


Otherworldly

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff in the Dark Castle (Once Upon a Time), Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 21:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17373791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Rumple said he needed her help, but Belle is bored.





	Otherworldly

**Author's Note:**

> cannibalisticshadows (on tumblr) said:  
> For your one-word prompt: Otherworldly; Rumbelle

Rumple had insisted that he needed her at this unreasonable hour of the night, but all she was doing was holding the basket as he pranced around in the middle of the weed-strewn glen. Occasionally he would laugh and snip a stem that looked the same as all the other plants, before waving a hand at her and tutting until she took it from him and dropped it into the basket with the others. 

It wasn’t surprising that being nothing more that a glorified prop allowed her attention to wander. She wasn’t even sure where in the realm they were. None of the plants looked familiar to her, so she let her eyes drift towards the sky.

Across the star strewn sky there were trails of blue, green and purple dancing, twisting and glittering. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

“Oh! Would you look at that.”

“What, dearie?”

Belle pointed at the sky. Rumple glanced up and shrugged.

“Shiny lights, what did you think made the herbs grow?”

Belle rolled her eyes. According to legend, and some of what he had let slip, Rumple was old, but as far as she was concerned you were never to old to stand in awe of the wonders of the world. She stepped over the prickly plants and grabbed his sleeve.

“Look. Look up. Isn’t is so, so otherworldly. It’s beautiful.”

Rumple huffed but lifted his head to the skies. As if the wonders knew they had a new audience the coloured streams twisted and shifted into a breath-taking display. Rumple snorted and took the basket from her hand; “You’ll get a crick in your neck looking at them like this.”

A click of his fingers and there was a thick blanket behind them. Rumple waved his hands at her; “Well, lie down. Can’t have a maid with a sore neck tomorrow. If you want to stargaze this is the best way to do it.”

Belle sat down on the blanket and patted the space she had left for Rumple. He snorted; “I have work to do, dearie.”

“Yes, but I’m only going to bother you with questions, so why not get this out of the way and then I will help you pick your weeds, sorry herbs.”

Rumple’s thumbs danced over his fingers for a moment. He gave a half-hearted growl and dropped on to the blanket next to her, at just less than a respectable distance. Belle laid back and folded her arms behind her head and crossed her ankles demurely. If Rumple thought he had successfully turned that gasp into a cough he was wrong.

“So, tell me about the otherworldly colours in the sky.”

It only took four heartbeats, and Belle counted them, for Rumple to ease himself onto his back next to her. He pointed up at the sky and said; “It is otherworldly. Those colours are because…”

Belle listened and remembered everything he said, but when she looked back on that night the most enduring sensation was of the heat she felt from Rumple’s body less than an inch from hers, and the feeling of his hand taking hers as he pointed out a glowing star in the sky.


End file.
